For the tourist, London is a thrilling place with a multitude of places to visit. Monuments from the capital’s glorious past are everywhere, from medieval banqueting halls and the great churches of Christopher Wren to the eclectic Victorian architecture of the triumphalist British Empire. There is no shortage of things to do in London: you can relax in the city’s quiet Georgian squares, explore the narrow alleyways of the City of London, wander along the riverside walks, and uncover the quirks of what is still identifiably a collection of villages. The largest capital in the European Union, stretching for more than thirty miles from east to west, and with a population of just under eight million, London is also incredibly diverse, ethnically and linguistically, offering cultural and culinary delights from right across the globe.

You could spend days just shopping in London, mixing with the upper classes in the “tiara triangle” around Harrods, or sampling the offbeat weekend markets of Portobello Road, Brick Lane and Camden. The city’s pubs have always had heaps of atmosphere, and food is now a major attraction too, with more than fifty Michelin-starred restaurants and the widest choice of cuisines on the planet. The music, clubbing and gay and lesbian scenes are second to none, and mainstream arts are no less exciting, with regular opportunities to catch outstanding theatre companies, dance troupes, exhibitions and opera.

London’s special atmosphere comes mostly, however, from the life on its streets. A cosmopolitan city since at least the seventeenth century, when it was a haven for Huguenot immigrants escaping persecution in Louis XIV’s France, today it is truly multicultural, with over a third of its permanent population originating from overseas. The last hundred years has seen the arrival of thousands from the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent, the Mediterranean, the Far East and Eastern Europe, all of whom play an integral part in defining a metropolis that is unmatched in its sheer diversity.

A brief history

The Romans founded Londinium in 43 AD as a stores depot on the marshy banks of the Thames. Despite frequent attacks – not least by Queen Boudicca, who razed it in 61 AD – the port became secure in its position as capital of Roman Britain by the end of the century. London’s expansion really began, however, in the eleventh century, when it became the seat of the last successful invader of Britain, the Norman duke who became William I of England (aka “the Conqueror”). Crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey, William built the White Tower – centrepiece of the Tower of London – to establish his dominance over the merchant population, the class that was soon to make London one of Europe’s mightiest cities.

Little is left of medieval or Tudor London. Many of the finest buildings were wiped out in the course of a few days in 1666 when the Great Fire of London annihilated more than thirteen thousand houses and nearly ninety churches, completing a cycle of destruction begun the year before by the Great Plague, which killed as many as a hundred thousand people. Chief beneficiary of the blaze was Christopher Wren, who was commissioned to redesign the city and rose to the challenge with such masterpieces as St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Naval Hospital in Greenwich.

Much of the public architecture of London was built in the Georgian and Victorian periods of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when grand structures were raised to reflect the city’s status as the financial and administrative hub of the British Empire. And though postwar development peppered the city with some undistinguished modernist buildings, more recent experiments in high-tech architecture, such as the Gherkin, have given the city a new gloss.

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London orientation: where to go

Although the majority of the city’s sights are situated north of the River Thames, which loops through the centre of the city from west to east, there is no single focus of interest. That’s because London hasn’t grown through centralized planning but by a process of agglomeration. Villages and urban developments that once surrounded the core are now lost within the amorphous mass of Greater London.

Westminster, the country’s royal, political and ecclesiastical power base for centuries, was once a separate city. The grand streets and squares to the north of Westminster, from St James’s to Covent Garden, were built as residential suburbs after the Restoration, and are now the city’s shopping and entertainment zones known collectively as the West End. To the east is the original City of London – known simply as The City – founded by the Romans, with more history than any other patch of the city, and now one of the world’s great financial centres.

The East End, east of the City, is not conventional tourist territory, but has recently emerged as a bolt hole for artists and a destination for clubbers – and of course, in its far eastern reaches, the East End is now home to the Olympic Park. It’s worth exploring south of the Thames, too, from the London Eye, in the west, to Tate Modern and beyond. The museums of South Kensington are a must, as is Portobello Road market in trendy Notting Hill, literary Hampstead and Highgate, in North London, either side of half-wild Hampstead Heath, and Greenwich, in South London, with its nautical associations, royal park and observatory. Finally, there are plenty of rewarding day-trips in West London along the Thames from Chiswick to Windsor, most notably to Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle.

Accommodation

London accommodation is expensive. The city’s hostels are among the most costly in the world, while venerable institutions such as the Ritz, the Dorchester and the Savoy charge guests the very top international prices – from £300 per luxurious night. For a decent hotel room, you shouldn’t expect much change out of £100 a night, and even the most basic B&Bs struggle to bring their tariffs down to £70 for a double with shared facilities. If you’re not bothered about atmosphere or local flavour then the chain hotels are a safe bet – but offer far less character than the family-owned places that we’ve reviewed here. Premier Inn, Travelodge, easyHotel and Yotel all have hotels in central locations. Whatever the time of year, you should phone as far in advance as you can if you want to stay within a couple of tube stops of the West End.

Eating

You can pretty much sample any kind of cuisine in London, from Georgian to Peruvian, from Modern British to fusion – you can even get yourself some Cockney pie and mash. And it needn’t be expensive – even in the fanciest restaurants, set menus (most often served at lunch) can be a great deal, and the small “sharing plates” that are currently all the rage are a godsend if you want to cut costs. While the old-fashioned London caffs are a dying breed, the city has plenty of great little places where you can get quick, filling and inexpensive meals – especially good at lunchtime, most of them are open in the evenings too. Bear in mind also that many pubs serve food,from simple pub grub to haute cuisine.

Gay and lesbian nightlife

London’s lesbian and gay scene is so huge, diverse and well established that it’s easy to forget just how much – and how fast – it has grown over the last couple of decades. Soho remains its spiritual heart, with a mix of traditional gay pubs, designer café-bars and a range of gay-run services. Details of most events appear in Time Out, while another excellent source of information is the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. The outdoor event of the year is Pride London in late June/early July, a colourful, noisy march through the city streets followed at the end of the month by a huge, ticketed party in a central London park.

Theatre

London has enjoyed a reputation for quality theatre since the time of Shakespeare and, despite the continuing dominance of blockbuster musicals and revenue-spinning star vehicles, still provides platforms for innovation and new writing. The West End is the heart of “Theatreland”, with Shaftesbury Avenue its most congested drag, but the term is more of a conceptual pigeon-hole than a geographical term. Some of the most exciting work is performed in what have become known as the Off-West End theatres, while further down the financial ladder still are the fringe theatres, more often than not pub venues, where ticket prices are lower, and quality more variable.

Cinema

There are a lot of cinemas in London, especially the West End, with the biggest on and around Leicester Square. A few classy independent chains show more offbeat screenings, in various locations – check out the Picturehouse, Curzon and Everyman – and there even exist a number of one-off arthouse cinemas. Tickets at the major screens cost at least £11, although afternoon shows are usually discounted, and concessionary rates are offered for some shows at virtually all cinemas, usually all day Monday or at other off-peak times. Anyone with an Orange phone can make use of the half-price “Orange Wednesday” tickets.

Classical music

On most days you should be able to catch a concert by one of the five major orchestras based in the capital or one of the more specialized ensembles. Unless a glamorous guest conductor is wielding the baton, or one of the world’s high-profile orchestras is giving a performance, full houses are a rarity, so even at the biggest concert halls you should be able to pick up a ticket for around £15 (the usual range is about £12–50). During the week there are also numerous free concerts, often at lunchtimes, in London’s churches, or given by the city’s two leading conservatoires, the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music.